Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

A beautiful day ended with making profits.

Pei Qian had wanted to take a good nap today, revise, and eat some delicious food to reward himself. The arrangement was perfect.

However, the ten million US dollars dropping from the sky ruined his good mood.

Pei Qian was silent for a long time. Then, he asked, "This ten million US dollars… will it work if we donate it back?"

Based on the principle of who earned the money and who would spend it, since the money was earned by sponsoring clubs, it was better to use it on sponsoring clubs.

He Desheng said, "Boss Pei, are you saying that we should make a comeback, continue sponsoring the club, and continue earning?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Finger Games is not that stupid. They would not allow such a thing to happen a second time. Previously, we sponsored the club and asked them to put the GOG logo on their team uniforms. That was a loophole in the rules. Now, Finger Games has already requested that no other games can appear on the club uniforms that participate in IOI's official competition."

"Of course, the clubs that we previously sponsored are still in the gray zone. Finger Games could not bear to compensate them for breaching the contract, and the results of these teams are not that good. Therefore… we can only stop here."

"We can't continue sponsoring them. This loophole has been blocked by Finger Games."

Before this, Pei Qian had sponsored ten clubs in total. Now, five of them wanted to compensate and terminate the contract while the other five continued to be sponsored.

Obviously, Finger Games had chosen five clubs that were stronger and easier to enter the top eight to terminate the contract. As for the other five clubs, they really could not bear to part with the money.

After all, if he were to terminate all of the contracts, he would have to pay another ten million US dollars. Even Dayak Corporation would feel the pinch.

Pei Qian was very melancholic.

On the bright side, at the very least, the other five companies did not terminate the contract. Otherwise, he would have to earn another ten million US dollars. The pressure would be even greater…

He Desheng said, "Boss Pei, how do you think we should spend this sum of money?"

Pei Qian was silent.

Yes, how should he spend it?

The settlement would be in a month's time. Wouldn't it be ridiculous to spend ten million US dollars only at that point of time? Wouldn't that be too hard on his mentality?

Of course, there were still ways to spend it. For example, they could invest in the 'Mission and Choice' project, continue to advertise and sponsor GOG, or organize promotional events.

However, this sum of money was a little too much. He had to think about how to spend the most money to minimize the negative impact.

At that thought, Pei Qian said, "There's no hurry. I'll think about it."

Of course, He Desheng had no objections. "Alright, Boss Pei."

After hanging up, Pei Qian felt melancholic. His good mood from the day was gone.

He could not sleep anymore. He got up, washed up, and went to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe to have breakfast.

After that, Pei Qian sipped his coffee as he browsed the news online.

Over the past two days, news of E-Sports and the gaming circle had basically been flooded by IOI's world finals. The GPL Spring Competition had not officially started, and there was only one large-scale competition after all. In addition, Long Yu Corporation had added fuel to the fire, so the news was overwhelming.

However, other than the results of the various teams in the group stages, there were also many news about FV Club, such as the generous training conditions that were exposed on FV Club's Weibo, as well as the live-streaming Weibo and so on.

What's more, it took up a lot of space and was very popular.

That was because today was already the second day of the competition. There was no competition for the local teams today, and they had lost badly yesterday. Neither the media nor the audience wanted to talk about it anymore.

FV Club was the number one seeded club in the country and had done some good performances. It was very suitable as material for news.

Thus, even if Long Yu Corporation did not like FV Club, the various games media outlets were on the lookout. In order to increase the number of views, they sent a large number of news sections to FV Club.

Pei Qian did not think too much about it. A certain amount of popularity would definitely be generated if he wanted to attract hatred. However, this popularity was unlikely to turn into profits. In fact, it would have negative effects after the FV Team lost the competition. Thus, there was nothing to worry about.

Pei Qian looked at the news on the other sections. Suddenly, a piece of news caught his attention.

"Rumors of Cold-Faced Lady's Bankruptcy, Meng Chang clarifies: Spreading false rumors!"

Cold-Faced Lady had nothing to do with Dream Realization Ventures anymore but Pei Qian was still paying attention to news about it.

If the Cold-Faced Lady became popular and her valuation skyrocketed, Pei Qian could relax. He had made the right choice and avoided earning more money.

If the Cold-Faced Lady project turned cold and confirmed that this was a rubbish project that would not be able to have a future even if he were to burn money, Pei Qian could consider continuing burning money.

Pei Qian quickly clicked on the news and realized that it had started because a certain media outlet had revealed that the Cold-Faced Lady's financing had failed and that its capital chain was tight. It had already delayed payment from suppliers and would probably become bankrupt in the near future.

This piece of news led to the start of negative news about the cold-faced lady.

In fact, ever since the Cold-Faced Lady was established, there had been many doubtful voices on the internet, including questioning whether its food was delicious, expensive, excessive marketing hype, and its fame was far greater than its substance.

However, the Cold-Faced Lady had been doing very well previously. The shop was popular both in physical stores and on the internet. In addition, the taste was passable. The price was subsidized and not particularly expensive. Thus, this sound did not cause much reaction.

However, the popularity of the Cold-Faced Lady on the internet had gradually subsided. The negative voices from before were naturally dug out coupled with this piece of news.

This news did not make much of a splash previously since it was just a conversation between 'industry insiders'.

As everyone knew, the chat history was not concrete, but it was better than nothing.

This news had also aroused many people's desire to discuss. Some people even wrote an article to analyze the Cold-Faced Lady's business model, openly expressing their weakness.

The title of the article was 'The Cold-Faced Lady's so-called Internet Thinking is nothing more than an act'. At the end of the article was a sentence that could kill the heart.

"I have to admit that Meng Chang has extremely strong cross-border thinking, extremely high IQ, top-notch execution, and superb eloquence. From any angle, he seems to be a perfect entrepreneur."

"However, common sense tells us that no one is much more stupid than the others in any era. No matter how smart a genius is, he can only fool consumers for a while and not for a lifetime. What's more, there are even smarter geniuses above geniuses. Perhaps in the eyes of other geniuses, such as Boss Pei, Meng Chang's thinking is as simple as white paper."

"Meng Chang has been emphasizing the internet thinking and the trend of the times. However, he's like a child sitting in the passenger seat of a car. He assumed he was in the driver's seat, thinking that he was in control of the direction of the car and collecting money from the passengers as a driver. However, in fact, whether it was the car or the road, it was not in his control."

This article was a perfect last hit.

The chat history that was released was not realistic. The Cold-Faced Lady could say that it had been smeared by its competitor. However, this article was written very carefully, pointing out a few fatal problems of the Cold-Faced Lady.

The most terrible thing was this sentence: Perhaps in the eyes of other geniuses like Boss Pei, Meng Chang's thinking was as simple as white paper.

Obviously, it was referring to Boss Pei selling the shares of the Cold-Faced Lady twice previously!

Everyone knew that Boss Pei's rate of success in investment was extremely high. Boss Pei had sold his shares twice in a row. That must be because Boss Pei thought that there was a huge problem with the Cold-Faced Lady model!

Thus, there were a lot of doubts.

On the other hand, Cold-Faced Lady immediately refuted the rumors, saying that the company's capital chain was healthy, the financing was smooth, and there were no problems with daily operations, asking everyone not to believe in the rumors.

However, the debate about the Cold-Faced Lady's business model had begun once again.

Many news websites that had reposted this news, as well as various major forums, had netizens discussing intensely.

Some people felt that the Cold-Faced Lady was just bragging to begin with, so it was not strange for it to fail.

Some people felt that the Cold-Faced Lady's situation was very good. The media was playing to the gallery and deceiving the viewers.

There were also people who felt that Meng Chang liked marketing so much. This was most likely a case of self-mockery and working with the media to generate popularity.

All in all, there were many different opinions. However, there were more and more doubts about the Cold-Faced Lady.

Pei Qian was speechless and conflicted as he read the comments online.

Obviously, many people knew about Dream Realization Ventures' sale of Cold-Faced Lady's shares. They thought that this was a clear signal: Cold-Faced Lady would die sooner or later if Boss Pei did not think highly of it.

However, Pei Qian knew very well why he sold his shares.

The contradiction was whether the Cold-Faced Lady could succeed or not. From the news that had been released, it seemed like it had encountered some difficulties. However, what if Pei Qian saved it by making a move now?

That was a dilemma.

Pei Qian thought about it for a long time and decided to deal with the changes as best as he could. He could not fall for any more tricks.

This time, he had to wait for the Cold-Faced Lady to completely fail. He had to wait until there was no possibility of saving before making a move. He definitely could not turn his losses into profits!

…

At the same time, Fu Hui Investments.

Li Shi and Xue Zhebin stared at each other with blank expressions.

Xue Zhebin probed, "Boss Li, your judgment of Boss Pei… seems to have deviated?"

"What should we do if Boss Pei exits totally?!"

Li Shi sipped his tea silently and did not reply.

After Li Shi and Xue Zhebin invested eight million yuan into the Cold-Faced Lady, Boss Pei immediately sold all of the shares that he had spent two million yuan on previously. Once again, he drew a clear line with the Cold-Faced Lady.

As a result, this immediately caused a chain reaction. Investors were even less optimistic about the Cold-Faced Lady model!

According to Meng Chang's plan, he would do his best after obtaining Boss Li's investment. He would hype up the Cold-Faced Lady's valuation and talk to more investors. In the end, Boss Pei's plan was akin to taking drastic measures to cut off Meng Chang's path of retreat!

Meng Chang could not get any investments and the Cold-Faced Lady was still burning money. The eight million yuan looked like a lot but in fact, it could not last long. The Cold-Faced Lady's capital chain was already very tight.

The news that the cold-faced lady was going to become bankrupt on the internet was a little exaggerated but it was not groundless. Investors were already not optimistic about this project. It was inevitable that news would leak out.

It became what it was today after the unscrupulous media added fuel to the fire.

Obviously, the Cold-Faced Lady was in a life-and-death crisis. Most of the companies that went bankrupt had problems with their capital chain very suddenly. They might die in a short time.

This showed that Li Shi and Xue Zhebin's investment was very stupid…

Of course, the other investors had shares of the Cold-Faced Lady so Li Shi was not the biggest sucker.

Everyone was feeling conflicted.

He wanted to sell it, but if everyone sold it, the Cold-Faced Lady's valuation would collapse instantly. Then, all the shares in everyone's hands would be worthless. None of them would be able to escape. However, if someone sold it and someone refused to sell it, the person who sold it first would be able to escape, and the person who sold it later would be trapped.

Xue Zhebin had been following Li Shi the entire time. In the end, he watched as Li Shi did his field research and repeatedly analyzed the situation. He had studied very seriously, but in the end, he seemed to have failed. This was quite a negative example.

Li Shi coughed to ease the awkwardness.

"Don't panic. The matter with the Cold-Faced Lady has changed, but it's obviously not over yet."

"The reason is Boss Pei's operations!"

"Boss Pei invested two million yuan and sold it immediately. Others might think that Boss Pei saw the problem with the cold-faced lady and withdrew in time, but I don't think so."

"If Boss Pei thought that there was something wrong with the cold-faced lady, he must have seen through it at the start. Otherwise, he would not have sold all his shares. Why did he invest two million yuan after selling them?"

"Is Boss Pei so free to play with Meng Chang?"

"Definitely not!"

"Obviously, there is a deeper meaning behind this two million yuan operation. In my opinion, Boss Pei might be deliberately sending a signal that the Cold-Faced Lady's valuation will collapse!"

"Boss Pei's actions are definitely not just to teach Meng Chang a lesson. I said before that Boss Pei only cares about profits and not emotions in business. Even if Boss Pei hates Meng Chang and gives him a little punishment, that can only be his second motive. His first goal is definitely to earn money through the cold-faced lady!"

"Boss Pei made a lot of money from selling the shares of the Cold-Faced Lady in the beginning. If that's all, the remaining two million yuan would not be necessary."

"That's why I think Boss Pei will definitely do something in the future!"

"I will choose a suitable time to purchase some shares of cold-faced ladies at a low price."

"This time, I want to predict Boss Pei's plan and walk ahead of him!"

…

…

January 1st, 2012, New Year's Day…

At eight in the morning in China, at four in the afternoon on December 31, 2011 in Los Angeles.

Pei Qian woke up as usual. He did not feel anything special about New Year's Day, nor did he have the habit of staying up until midnight to celebrate the New Year.

This year was the special 2012 year, so there were endless discussions about this year online.

A global disaster movie called 2012 was released in 2009, and the Mayans' fables had long been widely known.

However, Pei Qian knew very well that there was nothing worth paying attention to in 2012. The so-called end of the world on December 21st was just nonsense. Other than that, the Olympics, the United States presidential election, and the like had nothing to do with most people's daily lives.

Thus, Pei Qian was not in the mood to care about the special year 2012. Instead, he focused on his own matters.

He had to continue revising during the exam week and the results of the two domestic teams in the IOI global finals were out.

One team would be eliminated, and the other would persist until the additional round. However, they were still no match for the other team after the fierce battle. In the end, they lost the qualification to enter the top eight.

The second team's competition had just ended. The entire live-stream was filled with all sorts of curses. It would not be an exaggeration to say that it was the end of the domestic IOI!